It will be remembered that a short time since we mentioned the fact that
W.H. Dall, of the U. S. Coast Survey, who has passed a number of years
in Alaskan waters, on Coast Survey duty, denied the existence of any
branch of the Kuro Shiwo, or Japanese warm stream, in Behring's Straits.
That is, he failed to find evidence of the existence of any such
current, although he had made careful observations. At the islands in
Behring's Straits, his vessel had sailed in opposite directions with ebb
and flood tide, and he thought the only currents there were tidal in
their nature. The existence or non-existence of this current is an
important point in Arctic research on this side of the continent.
At the last meeting of the Academy of Sciences, Prof. Davidson, of the
U. S. Coast Survey, author of the "Alaska Coast Pilot," refuted Dr.
Dall's opinion of the non-existence of a branch of the Kuro Shiwo, or
Japanese warm stream, from the north Pacific into the Arctic Ocean,
through Behring's Straits. He said that in 1857 he gave to the Academy
his own observations, and recently he had conferred with Capt. C.L.
Hooper, who commanded the U. S. steamer Thomas Corwin, employed as a
revenue steam cruiser in the Arctic and around the coast of Alaska.
Capt. Hooper confirms the opinions of all previous navigators, every one
of which, except Dr. Dall, say that a branch of this warm stream passed
northward into the Arctic through Behring's Strait. It is partly
deflected by St. Lawrence Island, and closely follows the coast on the
Alaskan side, while a cold current comes out south, past East Cape
in Siberia, skirting the Asiatic shore past Kamschatka, and thence
continues down the coast of China. He said ice often extended several
miles seaward, from East Cape on the Asiatic side of Behring Strait,
making what seamen call a false cape, and indicating cold water, while
no such formation makes off on the American side, where the water is
12 degrees warmer than on the Asiatic shore off the Diomede islands,
situated in the middle of Behring's Strait, the current varies in
intensity according to the wind.
Frequently it is almost nothing for several days, when after a series of
southerly winds the shallow Arctic basin has been filled, under a heavy
pressure, with an unusual volume of water, and a sudden change to
northerly winds, makes even a small current setting southward for a few
days, just as at times the surface currents set out our Golden Gate
continuously for 24 and 48 hours, as shown by the United States Coast
Survey tide gauges. Whalers report that the incoming water then flows
in, under the temporary outflowing stream.
Old trees, of a variety known to grow in tropical Japan, are floated
into the Arctic basin as far as past Point Barrow, on the American side,
but none are found on the Asiatic side, or near Wrangell Land, where a
cold stream exists, and ice remains late in the season. On the northern
side of the Aleutian islands are found cocoanut husks and other tropical
productions stranded along the beaches. The American coast of Alaska
has a much warmer climate than the Asiatic coast of Siberia, and the
American timber line extends very far north. The ice opens early in the
season on the American side, and invariably late on the Asiatic.
Capt. C. L. Hooper says that when just north of Behring's Strait, off
the American coast, in the Arctic basin, the U.S. steamer Thomas Corwin,
when becalmed for 24 hours, drifted 40 miles to the northward. From
all these, and other facts, and the unanimous testimony of American
whalemen, who have for years spent many months annually in the Arctic,
and from his own observations, he argued that a branch of the Kuro-Shiwo
or Japanese warm stream, unquestionably runs northward through Behring's
Strait into the Arctic basin along the northwestern coast of Alaska.
Prof. Davidson then called to mind the testimony in regard to the
existence of Plover Island, between Herald Island and Wrangell Land,
which he said was first made public through this academy. The evidence
of Capts. Williams and Thomas Long were recited and highly praised. One
of the officers of Admiral Rodgers' expedition climbed to near the top
of Herald Island, at a time of great refraction, when probably a false
horizon existed, and hence did not see Plover Island, although Wrangell
Land was in sight.
Prof. Davidson thinks all the authorities are against Dr. Dall, who
attributes the warm current he observed on the American coast to water
from the Yukon River and to the large expanse of shallow water exposed
to the sun's rays. As Dall's observations only covered a few days of
possibly exceptional weather, and the whalers and Captain Hooper's cover
vastly longer periods, and whalers all say it is a pretty hard thing to
beat southward through Behring's Strait, owing to the northerly current
setting into the Arctic, we are forced to the conclusion that Dr.
Dall has mistaken the exception for the rule, and his conclusions are
therefore erroneous. When, in 1824, Wrangell went north, he, like
others, always found broken ice and considerable open water. In 1867,
when Capt. Thomas Long made his memorable survey of the coast of
Wrangell Land, the season was an exceptionally open one, and in
California we had heavy rains, extending into July.
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